SOLUTION BRIEF

Improve drilling efficiency with predictive analytics

on contextualized data

Business Impact

“For an average offshore O&G operator, The Issue

drilling and completion (D&C) accounts
for about 40% to 50% of total capital
expenditure; for many onshore opera-
tors, D&C expenditures can be as high
as 65%.”1
Challenges
• Disparate data. Multiple vendor solutions
on a well site create inconsistencies in
surface and subsurface data, as well as
time and depth indexes.
• Insufficient data quality and gover-
nance. With multiple disciplines working
on data sets at the same time, and new
data from embedded sensors, main-
taining a single source of the truth can
be complex.
• Relevant metrics. Performance can
no longer be measured based on time
spent to drill. The competitive reality of
low prices demands new performance
metrics for drilling and wellbore quality.
• Unstructured data. Most analytical
systems cannot integrate unstructured
text from reports and log comments,
which could improve the speed and
insight into drilling performance issues.
Drilling is one of the most critical, dangerous, complex and costly operations in the oil and gas
industry. As such, there’s a pressing need not only to improve drilling efficiency but also to
predict and prescribe against future problems, such as equipment failures or stuck pipes.1
Embedded sensors, connected to the industrial internet of things (IIoT), have increased the
granularity and frequency of data collected during the drilling process – but the data is often
siloed and underutilized. This lack of integration can lead to expensive, time-consuming
problems during the drilling process. Inefficient drilling programs can have an even greater
aggregate financial impact, causing cost over-runs, delays in well completions and production
on-stream dates, unexpected shutdowns and accidents.
Our Approach
SAS provides insight into parameters that can improve drilling efficiency from planning
through execution and completion. We approach this problem with software and services to
help you:
• Uncover hidden patterns in data. SAS links data from the formation (variables such as
rock properties) and drilling operational parameters (weight on bit and rate of penetra-
tion) with drilling system designs (well plans) to identify optimal conditions for every stage
of drilling.
• Deploy analytics on the edge. Once patterns are identified, a predictive model can be
deployed within the IIoT infrastructure to analyze data in motion and deliver new insights to
drilling engineers.
• Quantify drilling success. Data mining techniques applied to a comprehensive data set
identify potential correlations between drilling activity and process inefficiencies that lead
to invisible lost time.
• Rely on root-cause analysis to guide decisions. SAS enables you to predict both surface
and down-hole equipment failures and immediately determine which operational param-
eters to adjust to avoid costly nonproductive time (NPT).

1
How to Achieve 50% Reduction in Offshore Drilling
Costs. McKinsey & Company. May 2015.
Advanced analytical methodologies from SAS develop a predictive model that provides early
warnings about events that could adversely affect drilling time, cost and safety.
The SAS® Difference Case Study What if you could ...
Enhanced drilling decisions
based on data-driven insights
SAS improves drilling efficiency through
its broad expertise in data integration, data
quality and advanced analytics, including
optimization, data mining and predictive
modeling.
• Identify KPIs behind efficient drilling
operations. SAS analyzes the statistical
relationship between data on relevant
drilling incidents (e.g., equipment
failures, well control issues, losses, stuck
pipes) and key performance indicators
(e.g., wellbore tortuosity, ROP, cost per
foot and foot per day).
• Reduce nonproductive time and invisible
lost time with powerful data integration
and data management tools. SAS
collects and analyzes key data from the
entire drilling operation, validates it with
proven quality control processes, then
integrates it with an easy-to-use analyt-
ical data mart.
• Visualize and analyze drilling perfor-
mance in near-real time. Visualization
software from SAS makes it quick and
easy to view, analyze and communicate
the latest information on current and
potential drilling performance – both
at the office and on the rig site.
SAS provides an integrated platform and
a complete predictive analytics solution
so you can take advantage of data-driven
predictive models in near-real time.
To contact your local SAS office, please visit: sas.com/offices
SAS and all other SAS Institute Inc. product or service names are registered trademarks or trademarks of SAS Institute Inc. in the USA and other countries.
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All rights reserved. 106477_G34770.0916
Large national oil and gas
company
Situation
The company wanted to identify in real time
the optimal values for drilling process opera-
tional parameters so it could maximize
drilling efficiency, increase the ROP and
decrease costs. To succeed, it had to manage
the ROP in the context of other performance
metrics such as cost per foot, foot per day
and mechanical specific energy.
Solution
To optimize the drilling program, SAS
Analytics identified the factors that most
influenced ROP, enabling the customer to
understand the optimum range of values for
controllable factors in real time. The control-
lable or operational parameters available for
analysis were revolutions per minute, weight
on bit, slow pump pressure, drill bit selec-
tion, bottom hole assembly, rig type,
logging while drilling, measurements while
drilling, driller profiles and experience.
Result
The first wells in the pilot program exhibited
a significantly improved rate of penetration,
increasing the foot per day by 12 percent.
In addition, nonproductive time was reduced
by 18 percent during the drilling phase.
Optimize operational performance
What if you could accurately predict and
manage all the variables or situations that
affect performance or safety?
Improve ROI and reduce
nonproductive time
What if you could aggregate all drilling
ecosystem data, including IIoT sensor data,
and compare operational performance
across all of your rigs?
Monitor events and manage KPIs
in real time
What if you could visualize your risks and
predict the best actions to help you avoid
excessive cost, dangerous situations and
inefficiency?
Accurately determine feasibility
What if you could evaluate multiple drilling
scenarios to model economic feasibility?
SAS Facts
• SAS software is used by more than 560
energy firms worldwide, including 9 of
the top 10 oil producers and all six
supermajors.
• SAS Analytics consistently receives top
awards from industry analysts.
• SAS customers at more than 80,000 sites
use our software to improve performance
and deliver value by making better
decisions faster.
Learn more about SAS software
and services for oil and gas:
sas.com/oilgas